


Sonic: Revival- Reunions

by ToaArcan



Series: Sonic: Revival [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 14:22:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18573268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToaArcan/pseuds/ToaArcan
Summary: The nightmare of Mecha Sally is over, but the the rag-tag group of heroes aren't finished just yet. Sally formulates a plan to reassemble her team, and oust Ixis Naugus from her family's throne, but with the wizard's apparent disappearance, and his clear control over the populace, it won't be that simple...





	1. Preparation

** Sonic: Revival- Reunions **

**  
Chapter 1 of 4: Preparation **

  
  
The first thing Sally did after her return to life was sleep. Three months of uninterrupted consciousness had to come to an end, even if she hadn’t technically needed to rest during that time.   
  
Once she woke up the following day, however, she sat down at Tails’ kitchen table with Sonic, Amy, Rotor, Silver, and Tails himself. Nicole and Emerl lingered nearby. Charles had returned to the city, bidding fond farewells to each of them, leaving the Freedom Fighters and their new friends to their own devices.  
  
“I have a plan,” Sally stated, tenting her fingers as she leaned against the table.  
  
“I have been waiting too long to hear that again,” Sonic grinned. Sally smiled back at him, then focused once again.  
  
“We’re going to get the Republic back. We’re going to oust Naugus, and we’re going to make some reforms… But we need to be stronger first,” She began.  
  
“I like that idea, but how are we going to do it. With what Naugus is pulling, if we run in there and beat him down, he’ll probably spin that as us being the villains,” Nicole sighed.  
  
“Well, there goes my idea,” Emerl shrugged. “How is this guy even making himself look like the good guy anyway. From what Nicole’s told me, he’s not a good actor.”  
  
“Mind control,” Tails replied.  
  
“Huh?!” Half the room turned to look at him.  
  
“Can he do that?” Amy asked.  
  
“I thought that was Mogul’s thing…” Sonic mumbled.  
  
“Then again, the shadow magic somewhat came out of nowhere, I remember him being more about the four elements before…” Nicole murmured, stroking her chin.   
  
  
Silver paused for a moment, then sighed, and spoke up. “I have more information on that front, actually.”  
  
“Oh?”  
  
“Yes. Sally, your brother and I have been working together with a few others behind the scenes. We uncovered a plot on Naugus’ part to brainwash the council. We stopped him, and did a number on him, but I don’t know if it’ll keep him down.”  
  
“Hm, useful information,” Sally nodded. “Also, worrying. As belligerent as the Council have been, they’re the only thing between him and absolute power. Still, is Elias okay?”  
  
“Last I checked, he was,” Silver replied.   
  
“That’s good to know. Thank you, Silver,” Sally smiled.  
  
“Does Uncle Chuck know the danger he was in?” Sonic asked.  
  
“Yes, he does. He helps our team move around so we informed him. Unfortunately, he’s the only one that knows,” Silver explained. “Because of that, he can’t really do a whole lot. If he tells the others what Naugus is planning, well, Naugus can just ask how he found that out…”  
  
“We need at least four of the Council on our side. Before, we could rely on Elias to tiebreak in our favour, but now that Naugus is in charge, and he’s the one we’re trying to get rid of…” Tails frowned.  
  
“We can count on Sir Charles, and Isabella,” Nicole added.  
  
“Mom doesn’t like the Acorns much, but I think I can convince her that Naugus is worse,” The fox brightened a little.  
  
“That’s just three…” Sonic sighed. “Besides, isn’t the big issue getting him to be seen as the bad guy by the public?”  
  
“Depends what sort of mind control it is. If he has to keep it maintained to keep people following him, then we can just knock him out and it should wear off…” Tails explained.  
  
“I hope it’s that kind!” Emerl piped up.  
  
“It isn’t… but I know what his power source is,” Sally replied. “What we need to do is take that Chaos Emerald away from him, and his whole plan should come crashing down…”  
  
“Wait, how do you know that?” Sonic asked.  
  
“I had Eggman’s database in my head, and the two of them were colluding,” Sally replied. “That’s how he knew when Elias was leaving the city… Sonic, is… is Antoine...”  
  
“He’s alive, but he’s in a coma,” Sonic replied gravely. “Bunnie ran after that… I think she went to get stronger, somehow… but I don’t like what that might mean…”  
  
  
“Huh? What do you mean, Sonic?” Amy asked.  
  
“She made me promise to not talk about this…” He sighed. “I don’t wanna break that trust, but this is important.”  
  
“Is this about her Uncle?” Sally asked.  
  
“Her Uncle?!” Tails, Amy, Rotor, and Nicole balked.   
  
“I didn’t know she had an Uncle…”  
  
“You knew?” Sonic stared at her.  
  
“Of course I knew,” Sally replied, leaning against the table. “Bunnie is one of my best friends, she told me everything. And after what happened with Fiona, I’ve been running tighter background checks on everyone outside of the original five and Nicole.”  
  
“Oh yeah, you asked me a bunch of questions a while ago,” Amy nodded, smiling in realisation. “So that’s what it was all about.”  
  
“Yes. And while I respect Bunnie’s want to keep this secret, we’re going to have to head after her before we make a move. She’s part of that stronger base I want. So, since you’re about to find out anyway… Bunnie’s uncle, Beauregard Rabbot, is a Grandmaster.”  
  
“ _WHAT!?_ ”  
  
“You don’t think she’s, erm, ended up as part of his Legion, do you?” Silver spoke up. He chose his words carefully… Sonic’s reactions to his accusations during his hunt for the traitor had been… aggressive, and even now, the blue hedgehog was giving him a look. Clearly, he had caught the unspoken meaning behind his question…  
  
“Bunnie wouldn’t do that. Even if she’s desperate for a way to get her cybernetics back and strike back against Eggman, she wouldn’t deliver herself to him.” Amy protested.  
  
“No, she wouldn’t. And I don’t think Beauregard would properly legionise her. He’s not a bad guy,” Sonic folded his arms.  
  
“Er, he works for the guy that made Sally into a robot with bomb inside her,” Emerl shrugged.  
  
“Not really by choice. The local Freedom Fighter group, the Sandblasters, practically forced out everyone that was once a Robian. They don’t trust anybody that was ever forced into Eggman’s control, and that left a lot of people with nowhere to turn except to Eggman himself. It’s a vicious cycle, and the only person that benefited from it was Eggman.”  
  
“I don’t like these Sandblaster guys. I think I wanna punch ‘em,” The Gizoid glowered. “So does this mean that Bunnie is safe? Will Beauregard help her?”  
  
“I don’t know…” Sally shook her head. “He’s a more honourable man than most of Eggman’s minions, and I don’t think Eggman knew she was there… if he did, he would’ve had her sent to him… But we can’t be sure of his underlings’ intentions for her…”  
  
“So we have to get her back,” Rotor frowned.  
  
“Yes. Fortunately, I’ve worked out what to do…” Sally stood up, folding her arms behind her back. “We’re going to split into two groups. One will go after Bunnie, and the other will make preparations for our move on the city, by rendezvousing with Silver’s team. There are eight of us, so two teams of four.”  
  
“Who’s going on each one?”  
  
“The team going after Bunnie are going to be landing right in the middle of a Legion Chapter and a group of renegade Freedom Fighters. They’re going to need to be fast about it, and we have no transport with the Tornado down… So I’m sending Sonic, Tails, and Emerl. Nicole, you work well with Emerl, so you’ll be going with them.”  
  
“Works for me!” Emerl pumped her fist.  
  
“Yeah, we can handle that!” Sonic nodded.  
  
“We’ll do our best,” Tails smiled.  
  
“You can count on us, Sally,” Nicole added.  
  
“Good. Silver, you’re going to take myself, Rotor, and Amy back to the city as quietly as possible. We’ll coordinate with your team and make our plans to oust Naugus that way.”  
  
“Yes, your highness,” He saluted. Sally laughed slightly, as the Freedom Fighters sighed, Sonic’s palm meeting his face.  
  
“Please, just call me Sally. I’ve never cared for formalities,” She smiled.  
  
“Oh, right, sorry,” Silver blushed awkwardly.   
  
“In any case… let’s get going.”  
  
***  
  
Emerl wasn’t familiar with the Great Desert region, but with Nicole’s assistance, she was still able to get them into the general area with her Chaos Control.  
  
“Glad I’m sandproof,” She folded her arms. “So, what’s the plan? We’re landing in the middle of an active war between some bad guys and some slightly less bad but still bad guys.”  
  
“I have an idea, actually,” Nicole spoke up, her avatar resting on Emerl’s shoulder. “Most of the Desert Legion are only loyal to Eggman because they have to be. He has various methods of keeping them under control, but mostly he uses a surgically implanted cherry bomb inside the victim’s skull. They turn against him, he blows them up.”  
  
“I am really starting to regret not putting my fist through his chest when I had the chance,” The Gizoid growled. Sonic and Tails gave each other uncertain looks.  
  
“I intend to disable the bombs,” Nicole announced. “Due to the situation they’re in, they’ve made a fully functioning city of their own. If it weren’t under Eggman’s control, there would be substantially fewer problems with it. Once that’s done, it would be easier to justify removing the Sandblasters.”  
  
“I like it!” Sonic grinned.  
  
“How are we going to get you in, though?” Tails asked.  
  
“We’ll need a distraction… and I don’t think we can rely on Jack and his minions to be helpful. Added, I don’t want to give them the chance to kill any innocent people or cause damage…” Nicole mused, stroking her chin.  
  
“Wait, when Bunnie and I were here before, we managed to wreck a foundry by pretending to fight. Tails and I won’t even need to keep up the illusion, we can just focus on doing some damage,” Sonic snapped his fingers.  
  
“That should work…”  
  
“Whaddya say, buddy? Feel like having a cathartic throwdown with some bots?” Sonic grinned at the fox.  
  
“Yeah, that should really get some of the stress off,” He nodded.   
  
“Awesome. What about Emerl?” The blue hedgehog glanced at the two machines.  
  
“Emerl will be taking me into the base. She’s strong enough to punch through anything in our way, should the place go on lockdown. Ultimately, our goal will be find Bunnie. Beauregard won’t trust me, but he might trust her. That will be our best shot.”  
  
“I will endeavour to try and avoid punching anyone too hard,” Emerl announced.  
  
“Alright then, let’s go!” Sonic turned, racing off in a cloud of sand. Tails shrugged and followed, as Emerl rose up, aiming herself toward the base.  
  
***  
  
Beauregard Rabbot stepped into his office, slumping down in his chair with a sigh. Meetings with Eggman after he had lost something major were always a unique kind of stressful. There was nothing quite as terrifying as watching an old man have an extended temper-tantrum when that old man also had the power to end your life with the touch of a button if you so much as breathed out of turn. This time, it seemed that the shiny new Death Egg was grounded permanently after Sonic and his friends stole its power source. Lien-Da and most of her legion were also gone, not dead, just… gone. He wouldn’t say where, but given Eggman’s reaction, Beauregard didn’t think it was a voluntary thing on their part, nor something that Eggman himself did. He had also lost something else, but at that point, Eggman became unintelligible with rage and the video conference had ended shortly afterwards.  
  
Aside from the hazard to his health, Beauregard couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of relief from the news, however. He had never been the most loyal to the Eggman Empire, rather, it was the only place that would accept him and everyone else who had once been a Robian, at least within a practical distance. The dramatic upswing in Eggman’s progress had been worrying, and hearing that it had petered out and gone into reverse was something he could live with.  
  
In the end, it had been easy for him to choose his family over the Empire.  
  
Bunnie had arrived a few weeks after the launch of the Death Egg, and Beauregard’s face-to-face introduction to what had become of his niece’s best friend. He had no love for the Acorn family, but everything he had heard about Princess Sally had told him that she was far from the dubious standard set by her lineage, and a bright hope for the future of the Republic. To him, she was far more Bunnie’s friend than Maximilian’s progeny.   
  
Bunnie had arrived with worse news. Ixis Naugus had taken control of New Mobotropolis, her friends had fractured apart, and her husband was in a deathly coma. Beauregard had never met Antoine DeCoolette, but hearing Bunnie talk about him made it clear that he would definitely have liked to.  
  
Attempts to comfort her by pointing out that she had at least finally been deroboticized had not gone well. It turned out that her state was the result of Naugus’ magic, and on the following mission, she had forgotten to bring any weapons- Years of having integrated weaponry and super-strength had made her used to not using them, and she’d just not remembered- and that resulted in her getting knocked out by Mecha Sally and directly led to her being unable to protect Antoine from his fate.  
  
He took her in and provided her with a room, making sure to keep her hidden from all but his most trusted men. Those he knew would not reveal her presence to Eggman just for a quick promotion. He promised her that he would give her any good developments on the situation with Eggman, and he would do anything she needed to get her back on her feet.  
  
He’d spat his coffee out when she came to him a month later and asked to be turned back into a cyborg.  
  
“Darlin’, I understand why you’re sayin’ this,” He had said, looking down at her. She met his eyes with a steely gaze of her own, more determined than he had ever seen her. “But… It ain’t that simple anymore. If I use the legion tech on you, you’re never going to be normal again.”  
  
“Bein’ a cyborg  _is_  normal for me. I had long accepted that I was never gonna be completely flesh-and-blood again, before Naugus did that to me. Sure, I wanted to be turned back… but when it happened, it cost me everythin’...”  
  
Reluctantly, he had agreed. He couldn’t argue with his niece’s decision. When she had arrived, she looked lost and confused. She had later admitted that she had come to him because she panicked and didn’t have anyone else to turn to. But now there was a fire in her eyes that wasn’t going to be doused by anything.  
  
It took him another whole month to find a Legion tech that was more loyal to him than to Eggman. He had no intention of allowing anyone to put an explosive in Bunnie’s head. The operation had taken several hours, but he made sure to use the finest parts he had access to, and it ultimately went smoothly. Bunnie walked out of the operating theatre on a new pair of mechanical legs, her left arm glinting in the sunlight. He had his questions about the single arm, but she had explained to him that she had developed her own fighting style based around having a single strong arm and a single dextrous one.  
  
Now, just over a month later, she was ready to leave. She had packed up the room she had been sleeping in that morning, though she didn’t have a lot of personal belongings with her.   
  
  
A gentle knocking on his door alerted him to her presence, and he quickly opened it, allowing her to step inside. She had a duffle bag over her shoulder, her hat was back on, and she’d pulled her hair back into a rough ponytail. She wrapped her arms around him, smiling.  
  
“Thanks for everythin’, Uncle Beau,” She said, speaking quietly.  
  
“You’re welcome, Bunnie. I’m glad I could help you,” He replied. “All things considered, now is probably a good time for you to make your move. I just got out of a meeting with the doctor, and he’s beyond mad.”  
  
“Oh?”  
  
“Yeah, apparently your friends stole the power supply to his Death Egg and grounded it at the north pole. Lien-Da’s entire legion has apparently vamoosed somewhere, and he lost something else that he was too angry to actually annunciate.”  
  
“That’s great news!” Bunnie beamed. True, she had wanted to be ready in time to help turn the tide, but adding her own power to the mix while Eggman was already on the back foot could probably secure a much greater comeback, since she wouldn’t be expected.  
  
“I thought you might be pleased,” He chuckled.  
  
“Any news on Sally?”  
  
  
“None, I’m afraid. But I know you can bring her in, Bunnie. I made sure of it,” He replied. “You’ll get your friend back, I promise.”  
  
“Alright then, I guess I-”  
  
  
Before Bunnie could finish, a siren began to blare, and Beauregard’s screen lit up.  
  
“` **ALERT. FREEDOM FIGHTER PRESENCE DETECTED. ALERT. PRIORITY: ONE.**`”  
  
“Sonic? What’s he doin’ here? He’s supposed to be chasin’ Sally-gal…” Bunnie frowned.  
  
“He probably worked out you’d be here and wants to get a little more backup, I guess…” The older rabbit shrugged.  
  
“What’s he actually doin’ out there?”  
  
  
“Looks like he’s just tryin’ to draw attention to himself… So yeah… I think that’s your ride.”  
  
“I guess so. Thanks again, Uncle Beau,” She hugged him as tightly as she could without hurting his back. “Love you.”  
  
“Love you too, Bunnie.”  
  
***  
  
Sonic and Tails had been expecting a welcoming committee of heavily-armed robots and legionnaires. They hadn’t been expecting a single person to fly out to meet them. They certainly hadn’t expected that person to be Bunnie.  
  
Immediately, all three of them embraced, Bunnie immediately blurting out apologies for her sudden exit.  
  
“Bunnie, it’s okay,” Sonic replied. “You were going through something impossible, it’s okay to freak out when stuff like that happens.”  
  
“Yeah, everyone reacts to things like that differently. We can’t hold anything against you,” Tails added, before he noticed the cold feeling of the arm around him. “But, you’re… y’know, metal again.”  
  
“Yeah, I know. I made sure Uncle Beau was watchin’, no bombs for me, but I had to do it. This is who I really am, guys. I accepted that a long time ago, and if I wanna get my best friend back and protect my husband, that’s who I gotta be,” She separated from them, clenching her mechanical fist.  
  
“Well, uh, Sally’s back.”  
  
“Wait, really? That’s great!” Bunnie pulled him into a back-breaking hug, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. “I knew you could do it!”  
  
“Well, technically Nicole and her new robot buddy did most of the work,” He wheezed.  
  
“Don’t sell us short, Sonic. We did manage to catch her and start bringing her home. Nicole and Emerl just pulled our fat out of the fryer when Eggman decided he wasn’t going to give up,” Tails interjected.  
  
“How is she?” Bunnie asked, releasing Sonic.  
  
“Safe, happy, and back to organic,” Tails replied. “The operation to make deroboticization possible again was a difficult one, but we managed to make it work. She went back to the city with Amy, Rotor, and Silver. They’re going to meet up with Silver’s team and make a plan to overthrow Naugus. She asked us to come out here and bring you home, so the team can all be back together.”  
  
  
“All of us? Is Antoine…?”  
  
“Alive, stable, still out, I’m afraid,” Sonic sighed. “That said, I haven’t been home since just after you left, so maybe there’s been some change… We’ll find out when we all get back.”  
  
“Yeah, I suppose. A part of me hopes he didn’t wake up to find me missin’...”   
  
“I’m sure he’d understand, Bunnie,” Tails put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
“I know. But that doesn’t make it better… Anyway, you mentioned Nicole got a new robot buddy?”  
  
“Yes, right!” Sonic nodded. “Her name’s Emerl, and she’s crazy-strong. Technically she’s something that the Brain Trust found and worked on before Fi told ‘em that just one of that sort of robot went crazy and wiped out a civilisation. Also, we think she can copy attacks.”  
  
“Huh… glad she’s on our side,” Bunnie mused.  
  
“Yeah, that’s why we made sure that only Sally or Nicole could activate her. Fortunately, she and Nicole seem to get on really well, and they’ve been working as a team. They helped save Sally, and Emerl took down an Egg Beater single-handedly!” Tails beamed.  
  
“Geesh… So where are they? I wanna meet this new friend of yours.”  
  
  
The reunion was interrupted by a streak of blue slamming down on the opposite side of the fortress wall, smoke beginning to rise from where it struck the ground.  
  
“Er, that would be her right there,” Tails mumbled.  
  
“Y’see, Nicole had this plan…”


	2. Back Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sally returns home, linking up with the Secret Freedom Fighters and preparing for the attack. Meanwhile, the away-team negotiate their side of the plan with Beauregard.

** Sonic: Revival- Reunions **

**  
Chapter 2 of 4: Back Together **

  
  
Sally’s team had arrived back in Knothole’s ruins under the cover of darkness, thanks to Silver’s Chronos Control allowing them to shift their landing forward several hours. They materialised standing outside the entrance of the Freedom HQ dome. Sally smiled, taking a deep breath of the familiar air, relaxing for a moment, before turning back toward her friends.  
  
“Alright, Silver. Lead the way.”  
  
“Okay, right, follow me,” He nodded, walking back toward the city. “It’s underground, beneath the city itself. And Nicole knows where it is, so she can steer Emerl right into it…”  
  
“So we won’t need to worry about infiltration… that’s good. Still, we should wait to discuss tactics until we have everyone…”  
  
“Right, right…”  
  
  
The walk didn’t take long, as the entrance tunnel was situated further away from the city. After all, Silver explained, if they wanted to remain hidden, not exiting into a population centre was a good first step. The tunnel itself was a long, dull walk, but soon enough, they reached the end, walking through the door and into the hideout.  
  
“Guys, I’m back, and I brought guests!” Silver called out.  
  
“Uh, aren’t we supposed to not do that?” Larry Lynx appeared from another room, pausing when he spotted the group. “Princess Sally! You’re... you again!”  
  
The small lynx’s surprise quickly brought Harvey Who and the wolf twins running to greet their returned leader, along with Rotor and Amy.  
  
“Where’s Elias?” Sally asked. “Silver told me he was a part of this team.”  
  
“During our last mission, the team got caught in a cave-in. They all made it out alive, but Elias took the worst of it. His leg is broken.” Harvey replied, just as Elias himself appeared, leaning on crutches, relief shining from his face. Sally ran over, throwing her arms around her brother gently, careful to not knock him over. He returned the hug as best he could.  
  
“Thank the Source you’re alright, Sally…”  
  
“I could say the same for you… I wasn’t sure if he kept targeting you after his attempt to use me failed…”  
  
“Well, he didn’t, fortunately… though I still managed to get myself in a scrape.”  
  
“I can see that,” She smiled slightly. “How long are you going to be out of things?”  
  
“A while, how long exactly depends on how much I rest it. I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you retake the city…” He sighed.  
  
“That’s alright… I’m sure we’ll be okay. You just stay safe.” Sally hugged him again. “How are Megan and Alexis?”  
  
“They’re fine, still in hiding. I wasn’t about to bring them back here when it could turn into a warzone again,” He explained.  
  
“Good, good…”  
  
  
“Unfortunately, Elias is not the only member of the team out of commission,” Harvey spoke up. “A few days ago, Eggman sent a new Metal Sonic here in an attempt to kill Antoine. Fortunately, Shard was able to halt the attack and force Metal to self-destruct, and Antoine was unharmed, but Shard was badly damaged in the process. His gem core is cracked, and it’s unlikely that he’ll ever be at full strength again…”  
  
“Oh no…” Silver and Amy gasped, while Rotor looked at them, confused.  
  
“Who’s Shard?”  
  
“The original Metal Sonic, the one that broke away from its programming and became a sentient being. We thought he was destroyed holding back a lava flow so that Sonic and Tails could escape, but the Secret Service found him entombed in the rock after it hardened. I had Sir Charles repair him, and he’s been working with us since…” Harvey explained.  
  
“I thought I saw another Sonic robot when Eggman sent the Metal Series to the city…” Rotor mused. “Still, if he’s out, I’ll take a look at him. I might be able to get him up and running again.”  
  
“That would be much appreciated,” The old owl smiled, before pointing to another door. “He’s just through there.”  
  
Rotor nodded, walking through to begin his work.  
  
“So, how are we going to stop Naugus now?” Lyco asked, looking at Harvey and the two Acorns.  
  
“I have something of a plan… but I’m going to wait until Sonic’s team return with Bunnie. Then we can get started…”  
  
  
***  
  
“Please stop shooting me, it isn’t working. You’re just wasting energy,” Emerl groaned, slowly trudging through the hail of bullets and lasers, body wreathed in a blue glow. The shield absorbed every last one of them, but maintaining it slowed her down somewhat.  
  
‘` _I don’t think they’re listening,_`’ Nicole sighed inside her new friend’s mind. ‘` _People don’t tend to listen to armoured robots that drop out of the sky into their bases._`’  
  
‘` _Well what was I supposed to do, knock on the door?_`’ She threw her hands up. ‘` _I didn’t realise that round thing was gonna explode when I landed on it!_`’  
  
‘` _It said oil on it!_`’  
  
‘` _I can’t read your language, Nicole! I can speak it but I can’t read it._`’ Emerl protested. One of the legionnaires ran up to her, brandishing a polearm. Her hand snapped out, catching the weapon and, with a wide sweep of her arm, she threw the assailant away from her.  
  
‘` _Oh. Well, would you like me to translate in future?_`’ The lynx offered sheepishly.  
  
‘` _That would be appreciated, thanks,_`’ She replied. ‘` _Ugh, this is getting us nowhere. I should just charge through and get to work on finding her._`’  
  
‘` _That will probably just make more of a fight,_`’ Nicole sighed. ‘` _We may have to incapacitate them._`’  
  
‘` _Well, that’ll work,_` Emerl lowered herself, stance tightening, readying herself to spring forward. Her third optic opened, flicking between each of the Legionnaires shooting at her. Information flicked across her vision- Nicole noted that all of it was written in Nocturnian- Highlighting target areas on each of them, nerves, pressure points, parts she could aim for to ensure a quick takedown.  
  
“Hold fire!”  
  
The gunfire stopped, and one of the legionnaires, with a slightly larger pauldron on his right arm, held up his hand. The others glanced at him. “Orders from the Baron. Apparently this robot isn’t hostile, and he wants to see her.”  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“Wait, what?”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“That’s a girl?”  
  
“Thank you!” Emerl relaxed, dropping her shield. ‘` _Can we trust this?_`’  
  
‘` _I’m not sure…_`’ Nicole mused, as they watched the Legionnaires back off, leaving the squad leader behind, putting his gun back into the holster. ‘` _But if it is a trick, they can’t hurt you, and it gets us closer to the office… so let’s roll with it._`”  
  
‘` _Alright then._`’ She stepped forward, optic closing with a quiet click. “Let’s go.”  
  
  
The squad leader led Emerl inside the central tower of the base, getting into the lift to the top.  
  
“Er, sorry about the whole… shooting you thing…” He said.  
  
“Sorry for landing like that,” Emerl replied, shrugging. “I didn’t realise that barrel was going to go up like that.”  
  
“You certainly gave us quite the shock.” He laughed slightly. “That alarm went off about the hedgehog showing up and then someone crash-lands into our fortress, we were on-edge already... “  
  
‘` _What do I say to that?_`’  
  
‘` _Say you’re here to help. But make it vague, don’t over-detail. Don’t act like you know Sonic at all, aside from a name._`’  
  
“Well, actually, I came by to help with that hedgehog problem,” She lied. The man raised his eyebrows a little, and smiled.  
  
“Good to hear. Where’d you come from anyway?”  
  
“I escaped from a Freedom Fighter base. I don’t know anything before that,” Not  _un_ true, but lacking in context.  
  
“Well, with power like that, I’m glad you did,” They came to a halt outside a door. “We’re here now.”  
  
  
The squad leader knocked on the door, announcing that he had brought the strange robot with him, after which it opened, and Emerl walked in. He stayed behind, closing the door behind her, and Emerl looked up to see an older, weary-looking rabbit meeting her eyes.  
  
“All clear,” He said, and, from various corners of the room, Sonic and Tails emerged, along with a younger rabbit that Emerl didn’t recognise, but Nicole certainly did.  
  
“Bunnie!” The lynx AI projected herself into the room, zipping over to Bunnie’s side. “It’s so good to see you again!”  
  
“Same to you, Nikki. I’m sorry I ran off…” She beamed for a moment, before her face fell.  
  
“It’s alright, I shut down as well. But we’re both better now,” Nicole replied. “Your limbs, though…”  
  
  
“Yeah, like I said to Sonic and Tails, this is who I really am. With ‘em, I can  protect the things that matter to me the most,” She explained, flexing her left arm. “Besides, it’s just my arm and legs now, no more awkward diets and uncomfortable maintenance for me!”  
  
“That’s good to hear.”  
  
“So, you gonna introduce us?” Bunnie glanced over Nicole’s shoulder at Emerl, who stood off to the side, arms folded, awkwardly tapping her foot.  
  
“Oh, of course!” She nodded, leading her friend over. “Bunnie, Emerl. Emerl, Bunnie.”  
  
“Nice to meet you, Sonic and Tails told me about you when we met outside,” Bunnie held out her hand for the Gizoid to shake. Emerl looked down at the hand, tilting her head quizzically for a second, before holding out her own in the same position, glancing at Nicole for pointers. Bunnie laughed, seizing Emerl’s hand in her own and shaking it gently. “Like this, sugah.”  
  
“Right, right,” She nodded. “And it’s nice to meet you too. A friend of Nicole’s is a friend of mine.”  
  
“Emerl is a Gizoid, a type of ancient robot that has the ability to mimic the powers and moves of others by observing them once. She was a great help in rescuing Sally.”  
  
“So I’ve heard. Thanks for that, Emerl,” She hugged the robot, who let out a started yelp before returning it. “Heh, looks like nobody warned you that I’m a hugger.”  
  
  
“Pardon the interruption, but I’ve been told that you have a plan that should free us from Eggman’s yoke?” Beauregard approached Nicole, leaning on his cane. The lynx nodded, turning to face him.  
  
“Yes, I do,” She nodded. “Previously, I hadn’t dared tamper with Eggman’s self-destruct bombs in case one actually went off, and getting my hands on one to safely test has been impossible. However, after he put one in Mecha Sally, I was forced to chance a deactivation or lose her, and I was successful. Since Eggman’s computer security is always terrible, and he never changes or updates things aside from Metal Sonic, I’d wager that the code I deleted to shut down Sally’s bomb will be the same in all of yours.”  
  
“Wager? Doesn’t sound certain to me…” He frowned.  
  
“I am not a betting woman, sir. I don’t take chances that I am not forced into. And I will make sure that the code is the same before I alter anything.”  
  
“Actually, since I’ve got legion tech, but no bomb or implants, there must be spares from my upgrade, right?” Bunnie suggested. “You can use those.”  
  
“That’s right, you could…” Beauregard nodded, walking back to his desk, opening a drawer and taking out a few parts. “When Bunnie had her surgery, I employed only a coupla doctors, the few that I trust to not sell me out to Eggman, then I smuggled the implants and bomb up here to make sure no-one found ‘em. You’re free to take a swing at it.”  
  
  
“Alright…  Tails, I need you to disconnect the detonator, just as a safety precaution,” Nicole glanced at the fox, who nodded and picked up the bomb. Opening it up, he cut the red wire, and the bomb went dead.  
  
“Done,” He stepped back, allowing Nicole free access. Her avatar faded into a small green orb, floating into the implant. After a few moments, she reappeared, floating above the desk.  
  
“It was indeed the same code, and I can mass-neutralise it. I should have it done in a few minutes…” The lynx smiled.  
  
“You have my gratitude, but what’s your reason for helping us?” Beauregard frowned. “We’re your enemies, after all.”  
  
“Until now, while we didn’t condone the actions of the Sandblasters, they were a necessary evil to prevent Eggman’s forces from spreading up from the south. Until I knew that I could disable the bombs, I was not willing to try and potentially harm the regular civilians forced under the empire’s command. But if you aren’t hostile… then we don’t need the Sandblasters anymore. We can make them face justice for their crimes against your people,” Nicole explained. “That’s the deal. I will free you, and we will help you with the Sandblasters, and you will become our ally.”  
  
“Seems fair to me… alright… do it.” The elder rabbit nodded.  
  
  
Nicole closed her eyes, raising her hands as a bright green flash rippled out from her body, flooding through the fortress. Beauregard heard a soft beep from the base of his skull, nothing like the frantic alarm that heralded a detonation, and a weight lifted from his shoulders.  
  
“It’s really gone… I can’t thank you enough, Miss Lynx. You’ve got yourself a deal.”  
  
“You’re welcome,” Nicole beamed.   
  
“I’ll make the preparations for the overthrow immediately, we should be good to go tomorrow. When should I contact you?”  
  
“Probably best to not do so until we’ve ousted Naugus…” Tails mused. “Which could be tomorrow, could be next week… depends on what Sally comes up with in terms of a plan…”  
  
“Basically, we’ll call you,” Sonic shrugged.  
  
“How are we gonna deal with him?” Bunnie asked, glancing at her friends. “I’m not sure I can be much help there, after what he did to Titan Metal Sonic… last thing I need is to have my new parts turn into foliage.”  
  
“I dunno, Sal’s working on it. Best I’ve got is ‘Make him look bad and then punch him in the face’, which isn’t much. We’re gonna have to work out the fine details later.”  
  
“I approve of the basic structure of this plan!” Emerl announced, clunking her fists together.   
  
“We know you do, buddy. Just got to make sure it works,” Sonic grinned.  
  
“Well, we’d best be off, then,” Bunnie said. She hugged her uncle tightly, and smiled up at him. “I’ll talk to you soon, Uncle Beau.”  
  
“Definitely. Good luck, Bunnie.”  
  
  
The three organics clustered around Emerl, and in a flash of blue, they disappeared.


	3. Regicide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Silver's team protecting the Council, the Freedom Fighters launch a coordinated strike against Naugus himself, laying their lives on the line to free their home from the monstrous usurper king.

** Sonic: Revival- Reunions **

**  
Chapter 3 of 4: Regicide**  
  
  
Morning in Mobotropolis, and a small figure walked the streets, heading nearer to the palace as she pushed through the crowds. None of them paid her any mind, but if they looked closer, they might’ve spotted the faint glow in her blue eyes, or the similarly-bright gemstone in her forehead, mostly covered by her messy ginger hair.  
  
Emerl grumbled slightly. Sneaking wasn’t  _remotely_  her style, and part of her wanted to be caught so that she could run back and chant “I told you so” at her new friends, in regards to sending her on a mission that didn’t involve fighting… and yet, she remained undetected. She supposed that it wasn’t much of a surprise. Nicole’s holograms and nanite form were both incredibly lifelike. Even she had been fooled when they first met. Of course her new nanite skin was helping… Even if she had no idea what to do with the tail. She just wished that it hadn’t been her that had to do it.  
  
***  
  
_One hour ago…_  
  
With the two teams reassembled, and all parties caught up on each other’s conditions, Sally had stressed the need to find where Naugus was first.  
  
“Fortunately, we have a team who are experienced with stealth and espionage,” She looked over at Harvey.  
  
“Well… we kinda fought Naugus, so now he’s going to be on the lookout for us,” Silver sighed. “We could try disguises, but that won’t hide our energy…”  
  
“And we’re not exactly in a position to go in, either…” Sonic grumbled.  
  
“I may have a solution…” Nicole spoke up, before gesturing to Emerl.  
  
“Me? I don’t think I can help unless you want me to beat his location out of someone…” She recoiled, holding up her hands.  
  
“All you need to do is a little scouting. Naugus won’t recognise you because he’s never met you,” Nicole explained.  
  
“Still a robot.”  
  
“Ah, but I can hide that for you… I can’t do much with the nanites at the moment, but I can form a sort of ‘skin’ with them that will make you look like a Mobian, like this…”  
  
  
Nicole’s eyes flashed green, and nanites swarmed around Emerl’s body. Despite her misgivings, she trusted the lynx, and allowed her to work. Once it was finished, Nicole waved her hand, the wall beside Emerl shifting into a reflective surface.  
  
The Nanite skin looked startlingly real. Staring back at Emerl was a small feline girl, with sandy-yellow fur, covered in black spots, with a short tail growing from her backside. Her lower legs and feet were almost completely black, and she had a mop of ginger hair on her head.  
  
“Huh… that… looks really lifelike… weird,” She mused. “What am I?”  
  
“A black-footed cat,” Nicole replied with a slight smirk. “I thought it was appropriate.”  
  
“Alright then… I guess this’ll work.”  
  
***  
  
Truth be told, the Gizoid didn’t quite have the heart to tell the lynx ‘No’. Especially after she called her new form ‘cute’. Now  _that_  had confused her. She wanted to snap back that she, as a powerful and dangerous robot, was in no way, shape, or form ‘cute’... but she didn’t. Not even when she let out a soft laugh as Emerl’s new face contorted in response.  
  
This would require further study, she decided. For now, she had her mission to focus on.  
  
Drawing near to the palace, she spotted the figure of a skunk walking down the steps, carrying a staff tipped with a Chaos Emerald. All of that fit the description of Geoffrey St. John, Naugus’ apprentice, and apparently a turncoat. What didn’t match was the enormous energy spike she felt as soon as she locked onto him.  
  
Ducking into an alleyway, she made sure her surroundings were clear, then leapt onto the rooftop, brushing the hair away from her forehead to take a deeper scan. The energy levels were off the scale, compared to the profile Nicole had given her.  
  
“Hey, Nicole, you seeing these measurements?” She opened a communication link to her friend.  
  
“ _`Yes, I can...  I’m showing Sally now…`_ ”  
  
“Alright…” She nodded, keeping her focus on the skunk. “Hey, is red a natural eye colour for skunks now?”  
  
  
“ _`I… no. And Geoffrey’s eyes aren’t red.`_ ”  
  
“Well, I’m looking at him right now, and those are definitely red…” She retorted. Nicole went quiet for a minute, before speaking up again, sounding alarmed.  
  
“ _`Emerl, get to the Council chamber. That’s not Geoffrey, that’s Naugus!`_ ”  
  
“Uh, isn’t Naugus bigger and uglier than that?”  
  
“ _`It’s Geoffrey’s body, Naugus is possessing him, but don’t worry, Sally has a plan already working. Just get the Council building, I’ll explain on the way.`_ ”  
  
“Right,” She nodded, vanishing in a burst of blue.  
  
***  
  
Emerl lingered in the crowd outside the Council building, fingers gripping the heavy weight in her hands. Sir Charles had passed it to her when she arrived, and she had quickly hid herself in the throng of bodies. Apparently, ‘Geoffrey’ was due to make some kind of announcement, supposedly on Naugus’ behalf, explaining the large gathering of people.  
  
If all went smoothly, that announcement wouldn’t be made at all. She listened to the voices of her friends echoing inside her head- Silver’s team inside the Council chamber itself, protecting the city’s leaders. The main Freedom Fighter team, just below the street with Nicole ready to bring them up to the surface, and their secret weapon, lingering on the roof of the building itself, ready to make his appearance, all confirming that they were ready to move.  
  
The skunk’s approach drew mixed reactions from the crowd. Nicole had explained that, while Geoffrey was Naugus’ right-hand man, and thus received plenty of support from the wizard’s more ardent backers, to others, he was still considered a traitor after he was found guilty of betraying Elias and the Acorns.  
  
“ _Alright..._ ” Sally’s voice cut through the chatter, the rest of the teams going quiet. “ _Phase one, go._ ”  
  
As Naugus began to climb the steps, a thin blue shape dropped from the roof of the building, crashing down in front of him. The stonework cracked beneath its weight, the possessed skunk leaping backwards as it rose. Several people in the crowd screamed, and began to run, as Metal Sonic rose to its feet, lunging at Geoffrey’s body.  
  
Emerl wasn’t sure what to make of this mechanical Sonic, compared to the last one she fought. Not as strong, by all appearances, but significantly faster. It shot forward with speed greater than Sonic’s own, punching Geoffrey’s face. The force of the first blow sent the skunk reeling, skidding across the ground in a heap. The staff slipped from his fingers, as the robot stalked toward him, its right hand restructuring into a drill.  
  
“ _Emerl, now!_ ”  
  
Emerl grinned, racing out of the crowd with her cargo in-hand, lifting it over her head and gently throwing it toward the skunk as she called out to him.  
  
“Geoffrey, catch!”  
  
Instinctively, his hands snapped up, snatching at the blur of gold and steel. His eyes widened as he looked down at the pristine form of the Sword of Light.  
  
  
The empowered weapon let out a brilliant flash, and Geoffrey screamed in two voices as black fog poured from his mouth and nose. His body slumped to the ground, fingers still gripping the hilt, as the fog pooled nearby, Naugus’ hideous mutated form emerging from it, skin wrinkled and dark, lips pulled back to expose his teeth, barbs growing from his clawed hand, horn curving to a sharper point. Hurriedly, he snatched up his staff, glaring at both Geoffrey and Emerl herself, before noticing the civilians that hadn’t fled. Before he could open his mouth, however, Geoffrey rose and swung the sword at him. Naugus hissed in pain as the blade nicked his left hand.  
  
“Monster!” The skunk roared, wincing as the blade continued to glow, smoke rising from where his hands gripped the hilt.   
  
“It burns you too, my foolish apprentice!” The wizard fired back, black lightning blasting from his Emerald, knocking the skunk off of his feet. He lost his grip on the Sword of Light, which clattered to the ground nearby.  
  
“ _Alright, Phase Two, let’s move!_ ” Sally’s voice cut in, as the ground nearby began to ripple. “ _Shard, how are you holding up?_ ”  
  
“Not great, unfortunately,” ‘Metal Sonic’ spoke up, optics lighting up in green. “I’m almost out of power. Going to fall back.”  
  
“We’ll take it from here,” Emerl smiled over at him. Shard nodded, nanites flowing away from his body to expose his normal, if battered, body, and he fired his engines, launching away from the plaza.  
  
As Naugus prepared to strike the prone Geoffrey, Emerl broke into a run, launching herself at the two mages. Curling into a tight ball, she slammed herself into Naugus’ gut, knocking the air from his lungs and forcing him back. Unrolling, she slammed her fist into his face, breaking several of his fangs and sending him sprawling across the ground, before grabbing Geoffrey and launching herself back to the steps, just as the rest of the Freedom Fighters, with the exception of Sally, emerged from below the city.  
  
“Oh gods, what’s wrong with his face!?” Sonic yelled, as Naugus rose to his feet, glaring at the assembled team.  
  
“His… his body is decaying. Whatever that white flash that Eggman’s machine made was, it’s destabilised him, and he’s starting to de-fuse…” Geoffrey explained weakly.   
  
“Gross,” Amy winced.  
  
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Tails nodded.  
  
“Well, doesn’t matter what he looks like. We’re still gonna take him down!” Sonic lowered himself, preparing to launch.  
  
  
“Don’t be so sure, Quickster…” Naugus rasped, leaning on his staff. “I’m not sure why you have returned from your excursion to find the former Princess, but you still need me… and I am still the King… call off your new friend, and I might not have you all arrested for treason…”  
  
“Oh, come off it, Naugus. We all know what you’re up to,” Bunnie groaned, preparing her arm cannon. “Doesn’t matter how many people you brainwash into electing you, yer still gonna lose in the end!”  
  
“Is that so?” His mouth split into a rictus grin as he raised his staff, black magic exploding out from it. For a moment, all of the organic Freedom Fighters felt something dark trying to worm into their minds, before a flicker of green light shielded them, Nicole’s eyes glowing brightly as she strained against the magic, forming a protective bubble around the team.  
  
The last dregs of the crowd weren’t so lucky, as their eyes turned black, and they began to lurch toward the Freedom Fighters, reaching out as they shambled forward.   
  
“Oh no!”   
  
“Not good!”  
  
“Dagnabbit, of course he did this…”  
  
“It would seem that I still have the support of the people!” Naugus cackled. “Although you are managing to resist, it will not be long before I break the computer’s shields and you too come to recognise my legitimacy! In fact, why not hurry the process along...”  
  
He pointed his staff at Nicole, only for Emerl to crash into it, grabbing hold of it and trying to wrench it from his grip. Yet, despite her strength, he managed to hold tight, power arcing along the shaft as both tried to wrench it free from the other.  
  
“Leave her alone!” Emerl growled, as her fingers closed around the Chaos Emerald itself. She felt its power flowing into her, felt the two stones already within her chest pulling it toward her. For a moment, her mind began to race again, another flash of the city, and she staggered, head swimming.  
  
That was all Naugus needed. The mad chimera wrenched his staff upward, dragging her with it, before she lost her grip and he flung her into the air. At the same moment, he unleashed the bolt of crystallising magic he had been aiming for Nicole, and it caught the Gizoid’s chest, propelling her into the Council building and entombing her within a chunk of green glass.  
  
“Emerl!” Nicole called out, but she received no response. Immediately, she remembered Bunnie’s comment in her Uncle’s office, about not wanting to share the fate of Titan Metal Sonic, and she thought back to the destruction of her own nanites at Naugus’ hand. “Emerl, please…”  
  
_Nothing._  
  
“Nicole…” Sonic ventured, eyes fixed on a child, no older than Cream, scraping his hand blankly against their shield bubble. “You gotta stay focused, she’s gonna be-”  
  
  
Nicole looked up at Naugus, growling with barely contained rage, fists clenching. Green fire flooded her eyes, as she floated off the ground.  
  
“Are you going to attack me, Nicole?” Naugus jeered, spreading his arms, almost as if he were inviting her to strike. “You know that I will simply destroy any nanites you use against me, and leave your friends at the mercy of both my spell and my people!”  
  
“ _Nicole, listen to me-_ ” Sally’s voice again, but this time, the lynx didn’t respond.   
  
The shield flickered and dropped, but before Naugus or his enslaved minions could capitalise in any way, all of them were thrown from their feet by a shockwave of unseen force, hurled backwards. As the civilians landed, the ground beneath them melted, first giving them a soft landing, then reducing to the consistency of mud as they tried to stand, causing them to sink until their legs were trapped, preventing them from moving.  
  
She thrust her hand forward, a tremor shaking through the plaza before the ground split open beneath Naugus’ feet, tendrils reaching up from within to drag him down. He recoiled, thrusting his staff down to shatter them as his cape expanded into a pair of huge wings, carrying him out of the gap.  
  
Snarling, she reached out for his mind, feeling the presence of four separate voices, all occupying his head, all in conflict.  _The destabilisation that Geoffrey mentioned._ Zeroing in on the strongest voice, she struck, firing psionic lance directly into it. Everything he had taken from her, the people she protected, her friends, her home, and now Emerl, she packed it into her attack, forcing him to feel every last day of it, from the entire three month period, in an instant.  
  
Naugus screamed.  
  
The glow from the Emerald faded, and his spell died. Those that he had already enslaved remained in his control, but the Freedom Fighters stood firm, all free, as Nicole’s arms sagged and she sank to the floor.  
  
“I have the zombies trapped… tear him apart.”  
  
“It’s gonna be okay, Nicole. Promise.” Sonic placed a hand on her shoulder, before surging forward, as the rest of the team followed. “Our turn!”  
  
  
Still steadying himself, Naugus had no chance of avoiding the blasts from Bunnie and Rotor’s cannons, staggering him. He raised his staff to fire upon them, but was stopped short when Amy’s hammer slammed into his foot, then his gut, sending him reeling. Tails clubbed the back of his head with his namesakes, as Sonic crashed into his chest, bouncing away to loop around and strike his back.   
  
Growling, Naugus melted into his own shadow, reappearing behind them and taking to the air. Immediately, Tails caught up to him, lashing his namesakes at the wizard’s wings. Rather than slice through, however, he bounced off of the magic field flowing through them, recovering just in time to avoid a swipe from Naugus’ claw.   
  
Any attempt on the mutant’s part to press the attack ended in another hail of cannon fire, forcing him to wheel away from Bunnie and Rotor’s attacks. He raised his staff, taking aim at them once again, only to feel something wrap around his ankles- a coil of nanites, rising up from the ground to drag him back down toward it. Switching focus, he lowered his weapon instead, preparing to destroy the tendril, just as a second one enveloped it, and a third engulfed his claw.  
  
With a howl of rage, Naugus let out a blast of black fire, turning all three to glass. Shattering all three, he glared down at Nicole, the lynx having fallen to her knees, wracked pain from the damage to her city.  
  
“You have become a thorn in my side, computer. A once useful pawn, but no longer worth anything… so die…” He hissed, preparing to attack her once more.  
  
  
Below him, Bunnie circled slowly, Sonic hanging onto her arm as she lined up with the chimera. Spotting her chance, she drew her arm back, as Sonic flipped himself over to perch on the palm of her hand.  
  
“Ready, sugah?” She asked, flashing him a smirk.  
  
“Oh yeah!” He grinned back. Bunnie thrust her arm forward, extending it as she did so, and launching Sonic with all of her strength. At the same time, Sonic sprang away from her, accelerating himself even faster, the recoil from his jump forcing Bunnie back slightly.  
  
Sonic’s spinning form tore through the membrane of Naugus’ left wing, not slowing for a second as he uncurled and reached out to grab Tails’ arm. Letting the momentum shift him, Tails went into a tight spin and hurled Sonic back down, straight through the other wing.  
  
Just as Rotor caught Sonic, Naugus went into freefall. Spotting his shadow growing larger on the ground, he prepared to melt into it, body turning into black ichor as he fell. Before he could properly shadowmeld, however, the ground itself shifted, and suddenly a brilliant emerald light shone out of it, removing the shadow entirely, stinging Naugus’ dissolving form, and leaving him with nowhere to left softly. He thudded heavily against the ground, rising just in time for Amy to slam her hammer into his forehead, snapping his horn off at the base.  
  
  
“ ** _AWAY WITH YOU!_** ” Naugus roared, a shockwave exploding from his staff that knocked all of them down, agony spiking through their bodies. Purple energy seethed within his eyes and the Emerald, his body bulking up. “ **You cannot take what is rightfully mine away from me!** ”  
  
Dark lightning sparked around his weapon as he held it up, clouds gathering overhead, flashes of the same electricity rippling within them. When the first bolt crashed down, it slammed against the shield dome, arcing out over it for a moment, before both the charge and the dome faded.  
  
Before he could call a second shock, however, the crystal stuck to the wall of the Council Building cracked, and then exploded outwards. Emerl clawed her way out of the remainder of the prison, body wreathed in blue fire, nanites sloughing away from her to expose her true form.  
  
“Emerl!” Nicole’s face lit up. “Oh, thank the Source…”  
  
“Everyone, move!” The Gizoid growled, as her chestplate split open, exposing the raging core within. The Freedom Fighters scattered, and she opened fire, the beam exploding out from within her. Gritting his fangs, Naugus responded in kind, a colossal blast of purple storming up to meet Emerl’s head-on.  
  
Both were pushed back by the force of the impact, Naugus’ boots scraping against the ground, sinking into the nanites slightly, while Emerl felt herself pressed against the wall of the building behind her.   
  
Bracing herself with her arms, she planted her feet against the wall. Panels on either side of her legs opened, metal rods extending from within to punch into the building, anchoring her in place. At the same time, Naugus felt his boots sinking further into the ground, and realised that he couldn’t move. He glared at Nicole for a moment, before focusing on Emerl once more, and, with a roar of fury, channelled more power into his attack.  
  
Slowly, Emerl felt her beam being pushed back toward her, spotting Naugus’ face splitting into a hideous grin. Straining against the force, she dug deep, trying to find more fuel for her fire. A little more rage, a little more fury, anything that could make her burn brighter.  
  
Then she spotted Sonic reaching for the fallen sword, and noticed Naugus’ feet sinking into the ground. She glanced down at Nicole, feeling her power surging up again. Something to fight for, and a shot at winning- that was all she needed.  
  
Chaos exploded from within her, driving Naugus’ attack back, much closer to him than before. She swelled as she watched his smile die, giving way to a pained grimace- Using that much power while literally coming apart at the seams couldn’t be comfortable, she mused.  
  
  
Then, Naugus let out a shocked gasp, followed by a roar of pain, as Sonic surged past him, slicing into his back with the glowing blade of the Sword of Light. For a moment, he whirled to face the hedgehog, blinded by hatred, then paused as he realised two very crucial facts.  
  
Firstly, the searing wound inflicted by the Sword of Light had caused him to lose focus on his clash with the robot. Secondly, he was currently not paying attention to said robot.  
  
Almost resigned, he turned back forward, just in time to see the oncoming ray of Chaos fill his vision. His arms raised to shield his face- Not that it was really worth shielding, Emerl decided, and the blast consumed his form, ravaging his body as it ripped him up from the ground and drove him back into it, cutting a furrow through the pavement, until finally the storm of untamed energy finally died down, leaving him embedded in a long crater, the Freedom Fighters slowly gathering around his unmoving body.  
  
Emerl peeled herself away from the wall, extracting her legs before dropping to the ground beside Nicole, landing on her knee with a crunch.   
  
“Sorry about the damage, Nicole,” She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “I was just trying to put him down for good.”  
  
“It’s alright…” She smiled back at her. “I already partially disconnected myself from the nanites when I realised the direction that this battle was going in. Didn’t feel a thing.”  
  
“Well, that’s good to know,” Emerl shrugged. “You alright?”  
  
“You scared me there…” She admitted, looking away. “I couldn’t feel you or hear you or anything. I thought you were dead.”  
  
“I couldn’t hear you either, the crystal must’ve blocked our signals out…” She murmured. “I’m glad you’re okay, though.”  
  
“I’m glad you’re unhurt too… Just, please don’t scare me like that again,” The lynx looked up at her. Emerl did her best to convey a smile with her eyes, and nodded. “Promise?”  
  
“Promise. Now, let’s go see how much damage I did to that ugly jerkwad!” She pointed over at the crevice her beam had dug into the city itself. Nicole laughed, and the two made their way over.  
  
  
The rest of the Freedom Fighters had approached the crater already, where the mad wizard lay, crumpled and still.  
  
“Is he dead?” Bunnie asked.  
  
“Nah… he’s breathing… Still, while we’re here.” Sonic planted the Sword of Light in the ground, and jumped into the pit, sliding down the ledge. He snatched up the fallen staff, turning it over for a moment before snapping it in half over his knee. It splintered with another flash of purple and black sparks, causing Sonic to leap back and drop both halves. At the same time, the black aura faded from the eyes of the remaining crowd, and they stumbled, most of them collapsing as they rubbed their heads.  
  
“W-what happened?” One of them asked, blinking rapidly.  
  
  
Freeing the crowd wasn’t the only effect of breaking the staff, however. Naugus’ eyes snapped open, hands flying to his chest and forehead, clutching at them as he writhed in place.  
  
“No… no no no… I can’t… you can’t take this from me…” He hissed, his claw snapping out to close around the fallen Chaos Emerald, plucking it from the ruined staff, pulling it close to his chest.   
  
“You’re not exactly in a position to bargain here, Horn-Head,” Sonic shrugged. “We’ve still got the Sword of Light, and you’re not looking so great after that attack. I mean, relatively. I don’t think you’ve ever looked great.”  
  
“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong, Quickster…” Naugus allowed himself a chuckle, a horrible rasping sound, looking up at the blue hedgehog with a twisted grin. “You  _need_  me.”  
  
“Oh, really?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as he barely managed to keep his smile under control, leaning down a little. “How d’you figure?”  
  
“My power is the only thing that can save your precious Princess from her terrible, terrible fate!” He cackled, trying to stand. His leg gave out, and he slumped to his knee, laughter turning to a fit of coughs and splutters. “Your rabbit comrade has seen fit to reject my gift, but Robotnik’s cruel treatment of Miss Acorn  _requires_  my special touch. Kill me, imprison me, find any other way to punish me for my crimes… but it will cost you any chance of seeing her restored to normal!”  
  
“Is that so?”  
  
Naugus froze, as Sonic’s smile grew to truly smug proportions, as the ground split enough for Sally to walk up the flight of steps that Nicole had provided her with, drawing level with her friends, folding her arms as she looked down at him  
  
“No, impossible… he… how did you…?”  
  
“I had some very good doctors,” Sally replied.  
  
  
For a moment, Naugus stared up at her, jaw hanging open. He barely moved as Sonic sprang back out of the furrow to stand beside her. Then, his face contorted in rage, gritting his fangs, claw tightening around the Emerald.  
  
Purple fire ignited within his eyes, flooding out and engulfing his body. His hand slammed against the floor, rearing back up as his muscles swelled, his height growing massively. His wings, horn, and missing teeth regenerated, the former stretching outward to truly enormous lengths.  
  
He stood tall, form still silhouetted in the violent purple aura, the Chaos Emerald floating above his head.   
  
“ **All the time I spent scheming, waiting, kowtowing to your idiotic council, and you wretched fools try to take it from me… I will not allow that… you will _die_  for your insolence!**”  
  
Naugus’ aimed his claw down, lightning exploding out from it. The team scattered, Sonic grabbing Sally and leaping away.   
  
“How the heck is he doing that!?” Bunnie yelped, stabilising herself in the air.  
  
“It must be one of his new powers!” Tails called back.  
  
“That’s right, that form is mostly made of shadows…” Emerl added.  
  
“Nicole, give us a light from the floor, and make it big!” Sally commanded, standing up from Sonic’s arms. The lynx nodded, pressing her hands to the floor, beginning to morph the nanites into light-emitting forms once again.  
  
Spotting the change, Naugus’ wings opened, lifting him off the ground. As he went, black fog poured from his mouth, hugging the ground. The fog spread out from the landing point, blotting out the light before it could even touch him.   
  
Bunnie, Rotor, and Emerl all opened fire on Naugus’ form, but their shots failed to even flinch him. Naugus slammed himself back to the ground, a shock of dark power exploding from his claw toward the team, tearing up the nanite stonework as it went. As they scattered once again, Naugus grinned, releasing a violent burst of power from his torso, throwing all of them to the ground.  
  
“ **I want you to feel my agony… I want you all to feel what it’s like to be torn into three…** ” He rasped, fingers snapping. In that same moment, purple tendrils speared out from his feet, stabbing into the fallen Freedom Fighters’ foreheads. All of them fell to the ground, reeling in an indescribable pain, except for Nicole and Emerl.  
  
“Sally!” Nicole rushed to her best friend’s side, grabbing her hand, but the squirrel didn’t seem to notice the lynx’s presence.  
  
“ **Of course, you two do not feel pain, do you? Not in a way that my magic can trigger… but that does not mean I cannot destroy you…** ”  
  
“I beat you once already… I can do it again!” Emerl stood firm, wreathed in blue. “And if we work together, you don’t stand anything resembling a chance!”  
  
“ **Is that so…** ”  
  
“You bet it is!” She slammed her fist into her palm, rolling out her neck. “Come on, Nicole, let’s finish this!”  
  
“Right, right…” Nicole stood up, jumping into Emerl’s storage slot once more.   
  
“ **I admire your confidence… but can you stop me _and_  save them?**” Naugus jeered, raising his claw. He pointed at the remnants of the crowd, lightning surging from between the two pincers.  
  
“ _No!_ ” Emerl yelled. In a flash, she was gone, reappearing in the path of the bolt. Thrusting her hands forward, a square barrier of jade light formed in front of her, catching it dead-on. Electricity spread out over the shield, forcing the Gizoid to brace against it. Glancing over her shoulder at the throng of terrified faces, staring up at her, she formed a second barrier as her first shattered, the lightning forcing its way through to the new shield. “ **You all need to run! Get outta here!** ”  
  
The few that hadn’t already started trying to disperse began to flee, but the size of the crowd was so large that progress was slow, hindered further by the news vans parked nearby, who had initially been there to cover another meeting, and now found themselves getting the scoop on the battle between Naugus and the returning Freedom Fighters.  
  
  
Across the plaza, Naugus chuckled to himself as he watched the two struggle against his new power. As the second shield came up, he diverted his attention to the Freedom Fighters, still wracked with pain at his feet.  
  
“ **Now… which of you shall I kill first?** ”  
  
To his surprise, Sonic stood up, shattering the tendril holding him with a ripple of green. The hedgehog rose slowly, breathing heavily as he glared up at the wizard. His eyes flickered to his fallen comrades, and for a moment, Naugus swore he saw a glimmer of red in them.  
  
“ **Ah, a volunteer.** ” He grinned, raising his free hand, power flowing between his fingers.   
  
  
Then Sonic vanished, a gale blasting in Naugus’ face. The wizard stumbled back, steadying himself with his wings, looking over his shoulder in time to see Sonic racing for the Sword of Light. Despite his initial burst of speed, the hedgehog was noticeably slower now, his injuries evidently taking their toll.  
  
Bolts of dark lightning slammed down from the sky, striking at him as he ran, drawn toward the faster target, even as Naugus spread his wings and lunged after him, more long leap than flight. But even with his body aching and sore from the battle, Sonic dodged, sidestepped, and evaded every bolt.  
  
For all his newfound power, the Sword of Light still presented an enormous threat to Naugus. Letting Sonic get to it meant game over, regardless of how strong he was able to make himself with his magic. His armour of shadows would give him no defence against the light.  
  
He reached out with his hand, stirring up the darkness coating the ruined floor. Wisps of black magic stirred up, reaching out for Sonic, trying to bind his legs, to trip him up, or pull him down into the dirt.   
  
Sonic stumbled for a moment, then leapt upwards, allowing his momentum to carry him forward, over the reach of the shadowy tendrils. That would cost him.  
  
Naugus grinned, thrusting his claw out, purple electricity surging out from it. With no traction in the air, there was nothing the blue hedgehog could do to dodge it. The bolt struck home, shocking him for a moment before he fell to the ground, scraping to a halt just shy of the blade.  
  
As Naugus loomed over him, Sonic growled, gritting his teeth as he reached out for the sword, but it lay just outside of his reach. The chimera’s claw closed sharply around his body, the serrations on the inside biting into his skin as he was hoisted into the air, face to face with him.  
  
“ **After all this, Quickster… do you have any last words?** ” Naugus jeered, pointing one sparking finger at Sonic’s head.  
  
“What, other than ‘You really need a breathmint’? Just the one…” Sonic spat, grinning back at him. “You really, really shouldn’t have lost focus.”  
  
As Naugus opened his mouth to ask what Sonic meant, he felt it.   
  
  
The power of the Chaos Emerald had vanished.  
  
  
Immediately, the spell brewing at his fingertip evaporated, the purple aura faded, and the cloak of shadows melted away to nothing, exposing his body, even more hideously mutated than before.  
  
“Missing something?” A mocking voice called behind him, and a glance over his shoulder only confirmed what he had already worked out: Emerl hovered there, throwing and catching the purple Chaos Emerald.  
  
  
Seizing his chance, Sonic forced the distracted wizard’s claw apart, perching on it for a second before slamming himself into his face. Stunned, and with his power finally ebbing away, Naugus stumbled, tipping back into the now-darkness-free ground. Sonic caught Emerl’s free hand, as she lowered them both back to the floor, watching the mutant mage shrink down to his normal size.  
  
Lying on the cobblestone plaza, Naugus’ broken horn, teeth, and wings had returned, staring up at Emerl in a state of shock, eyes wide, jaw hanging open.  
  
Nicole projected herself out of Emerl as they landed, leaving the slot and merging herself with the city once more. Sonic dropped to the floor, sitting down for a moment as he took several deep breaths.  
  
Then Naugus shifted, and all three were back on alert. The wizard rolled over, righting himself as he reached out toward Emerl, weakly grasping for the Chaos Emerald. Emerl stepped back, keeping it from his reach for a moment, before her chestplate opened and the gemstone evaporated, flowing inside her core.  She reeled back for a moment, optics turning purple as a matching aura ignited around her, but after a moment, she straightened, and the blue glow returned to her eyes.  
  
“Sorry, but that’s mine now,” She folded her arms.  
  
  
Naugus screamed in  _four_  voices.  
  
  
Sonic, Emerl, and Nicole all jumped back as the chimera rocked back on his knees, a dark crack forming across his forehead. Black energy floated out of it, as another crack appeared, then another, and then another. More and more cracks formed across his body, splitting wider and wider apart, until his form shattered, still screaming, into a chaotic spiral of magic and chaos, trying to force itself back together into one shape, then into three, then into one again, one mind fighting for control against three others, the former trying to hold their combined form together, the latter desperately trying to tear in apart.  
  
For a moment, Naugus’ silhouette was visible once more, the next, three distinct shapes, one with large wings and ears, one multi-limbed with clawed hands, and one with a large horn, clawing in an attempt to go their separate ways.  
  
“I guess this is what Geoff meant by de-stabilising…” Sonic mumbled.  
  
“What do we do?” Emerl asked, looking between her two more experienced friends.  
  
  
Just as Nicole opened her mouth to speak, a glowing blade tore through the centre of the magical aberration in front of them. The four voices- Naugus and his three components- screamed in agony for a long moment, before a brilliant flash of light tore them asunder, extinguishing their power in a violent conflagration of energy.  
  
As the glow faded, the Sword of Light fell to the ground, and Geoffrey St. John slumped down beside it, his right hand badly burnt.  
  
  
“Geoff!?”  
  
“I… I suppose you’ll all be wanting some answers, then?” The skunk wheezed, shifting to a sitting position. “I can explain everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does it count as being worth a "Major Character Death" warning if it's just a villain dying? They're the characters that are supposed to die.


	4. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of the battle with Naugus, Geoffrey provides answers to his former allies as to just what happened.

** Sonic: Revival- Reunions **

**  
Chapter 4 of 4: Answers**  
  
  
“Answers would be good, Geoff…” Sonic nodded for a moment. He took a step forward, but stumbled, pitching into Nicole and Emerl’s arms as his legs gave out. “On second thoughts… I think most of us are gonna need a rest before we do anything else…”  
  
“You should probably get that hand looked at as well,” Nicole added. “It doesn’t look healthy.”  
  
“You… have a very good point there…”  
  
  
***  
  
With Emerl taking care of getting the rest of their teammates home, Nicole took on the task of escorting Geoffrey to the hospital, along with a pair of guards. Regardless of circumstance, the skunk had still killed the ruling monarch, and injury or no injury, going two for two on treason wasn’t something that tended to be taken lightly. He would almost certainly be under heavy guard for a long while after this.  
  
However, as she watched the skunk disappear into a solitary ward, a nurse approached her. The older-looking giraffe had been shadowing the group since they entered, and Nicole turned to face him with a quizzical look.  
  
“Can I help you?” She asked. It sounded more defensive than she intended, if the nurse’s slight recoil was anything to go by, and she cursed inwardly. Naugus had managed to put her on edge around regular civilians, and she inwardly thanked every god she could think of that someone had put him down for good, even if it was his own lackey.  
  
“Sorry Ma’am, it’s just that we saw the battle in the plaza, and realised that one of your team would probably be coming here, so I waited. It’s about your friend, Antoine.”  
  
  
***  
  
“Welcome home, Sally,” Bernadette hugged the squirrel gently, Jules laying a hand on her shoulder. With the exact situation regarding who was the monarch in flux, Sally had decided to spend the night with Sonic and his family.  
  
“Thank you, Mrs. Hedgehog. It’s good to be back,” She smiled warmly.  
  
“Now, Sally, if you’re going to insist that we use your name, you can at least do the same for us,”  Bernadette gave her a wry grin, which she returned.  
  
“Very well, Bernadette,” She nodded.  
  
“Uncle Chuck said he’ll be home late. Apparently having a fight to the death with the head of state right outside the Council Chambers creates a lot of paperwork. Especially when the king loses,” Sonic shrugged, leaning against the door. “He said that if we haven’t eaten by the time he gets back, he’ll cover that. Says Sal and I have gone too long without his cooking.”  
  
“`Well, he’s not wrong,`” Jules nodded.   
  
“That’s what I said,” Sonic grinned.   
  
***  
  
Tails, Rotor, and Emerl stood outside the Prower residence, having paused to bid farewell to the fox.  
  
“When we’ve got all of today’s events sorted out with the council tomorrow, we should probably all head over to the lab and take a look at you, Emerl,” Tails suggested.  
  
“Hey, at least buy me dinner first!” She flicked one of her optics off, imitating a wink as he let out an exasperated groan.  
  
“Not like that…” He sighed. “I mean, seeing exactly what it is you can do. Power-copying is fairly obvious, but I want to know your limitations.”  
  
“That’s fair,” She nodded, folding her arms slightly.  
  
“We should also probably look into the whole “Chaos Emerald” situation,” Rotor added. “Counting the synthetic, you’ve got three of them in there, and, well, they’re not exactly stable when they’re brought together outside of a complete set. That’s a lot of power, and we should probably be sure you can contain it. I don’t want you to feel like we’re not trusting you-”  
  
“Nah, it’s cool. I don’t know a whole lot about them, save for them giving me a power boost and showing me what I think might be old memories. Last thing I want is to overdo it and cause problems by absorbing more of them,” She replied. “So I’d be glad to help you with that.”  
  
“Good to hear,” Tails smiled. “Anyway, I should probably go. I need to tell Dad that Mom’s gonna be home late.”  
  
“You also need to recover from the whole fight thing as well,” She added.  
  
“That goes for both of us,” Rotor sighed, rubbing his forehead. “That pain spell was nasty.”  
  
“Yeah. You’re lucky you didn’t have to deal with that, Emerl.”  
  
“I know, right?” She nodded. “Anyway, catch you later, Tails.”  
  
“Yeah, same to you.”  
  
“See you tomorrow.”  
  
***  
  
“You know, you don’t have to do this, Ames,” Bunnie sighed as she let the pink hedgehog into her and Antoine’s house.  
  
“Maybe, but I want to,” She replied, glancing around the dusty hallway. “You’ve not been here since Antoine went into the hospital, coming back was always going to be difficult, especially alone. That’s why I’m here.”  
  
Bunnie smiled, and threw her arms around her, squeezing slightly.  
  
“Yer a good friend, y’know that?”  
  
“Bunnie, you’ve been supporting us ever since I joined the fight, and from what the others say, before that too. Supporting you when you need it is the least I can do,” Amy returned the hug.  
  
“Thanks.”  
  
  
As they stood there, Nicole flickered into the hallway, smiling broadly.  
  
“Bunnie, I have news!” She beamed, as they looked up at her. “Antoine’s showing signs of waking up. His brain activity has been on a steady increase over the last few days, and he should be coming out of the coma within a day or two.”  
  
Immediately, Bunnie pulled Nicole into the hug.  
  
***  
  
The following morning brought a buzz of activity to the Council Building. The Freedom Fighters, along with Harvey’s secret team, and the new arrival of Emerl, all clustered inside the main chamber, with Geoffrey there, one arm bandaged, both cuffed behind his back.  
  
  
“It would appear that we’ve been kept in the dark here… You’ve clearly all been very busy lately,” Rosemary frowned. “I believe an explanation is in order.”  
  
“Where should we start?” Sally asked, standing amongst her team. Dylan opened his mouth to answer, but Isabella spoke up first.  
  
“Well, I think the first thing we should say is ‘Welcome home’ to all of you. Before we get into the heavy part, it’s a relief to see you all alive and well,” She said.  
  
“Thank you, Isabella,” Sally smiled. “But let’s get down to the reason we’re all here.”  
  
“Let’s start with the, uh, regicide?” Hamlin shrugged. “I was no supporter of Naugus, but Mister St. John murdering him raises some complications.”  
  
“I wouldn’t call it regicide,” Sally shook her head. “Nicole explained to me what happened with Naugus’ accession, and that was probably the least legitimate coronation in the entirety of history. The crown is important, yes, but the physical object is ultimately just a fancy hat. Removing it from one man’s head and putting it on another does not a new king make, regardless of the size of a cheering crowd.”  
  
“We’re here to represent the will of the peop-”  
  
“Yes. The will of the people. And that extends to all of Acorn, not just one city, and should be conveyed through due process,  _not_  a screaming mob.” Her eyes narrowed. “Additionally, given that Naugus was an escaped convict, responsible for not only multiple counts of attempted murder and trying to ignite a civil war between Mobians and Robians, but instigating the Great War, then I can only ask  _what in the name of Chaos were you thinking?!_ ”  
  
The various members of the Council, with the exception of Isabella, were starting to look awkwardly at each other.  
  
“Given that this system was formed in response to my father’s own mistakes, which included  _trusting Naugus…_ , I can only refer to this as a resounding failure,” Sally almost growled. Sonic placed a hand on her shoulder, and she visibly relaxed. She took a deep breath, and sighed. “Given the circumstances… I believe we should disregard Naugus’ reign as legitimate.”  
  
The Council talked among each other for a moment, quietly, visibly cowed by the Princess’ anger, until they nodded slowly.  
  
“Motion carried.”  
  
“Thank you. Geoffrey is many things, but ‘kingslayer’ is not one of them,” Sally nodded.  
  
“Princess, you have my sincere thanks for-” The skunk spoke up, but stopped when she turned to face him.  
  
“Don’t mistake this for fondness, Geoffrey,” She snapped. “Naugus’ reign being illegitimate puts you in a poor position as his kingmaker, especially considering that his previous pardon of your betrayal has now been rendered null and void. I recognise that you’ve suffered more than many during this whole debacle, but that doesn’t excuse your actions.”  
  
“Of course…” He slumped back into his seat, Sally turning back toward the Council.  
  
“So, what’s next?”  
  
“I would like to ask about this… “Secret Freedom Fighter” team that appeared to guard us yesterday,” Penelope spoke up. “Where did they come from?”  
  
“The Secret Freedom Fighters were a creation of myself and King Elias,” Harvey spoke up. “They were formed as an underground resistance to Naugus’ rule. Understandably, the fewer people that knew about their existence, the better. They were successful in preventing him from gaining the ability to brainwash all of you in order to attain absolute power.”  
  
“I see… well, thank you for your service…” Dylan mumbled, not the only member of the Council  looking unwell at the thought.  
  
“And King Elias? Where is he?” Isabella asked.  
  
“He was injured during our last mission, broke his leg, and is currently recovering in our hideout,” Silver replied.  
  
“We asked if he wanted to be here for this, and he and Sally seemed to agree that him returning before the dust settled on Naugus’ death would complicate things,” Harvey added.   
  
“Very well…”  
  
  
“What of Naugus’ other dealings?” Hamlin prompted,  glancing at Geoffrey. We’re now aware of his ill-fated attempts to gain control of our minds, but what else was he up to, why was he hiding in Commander St. John’s body?”  
  
“Allow me to provide that information, as someone who witnessed it all first-hand,” The skunk replied, rising in his seat a little. “Get comfy, this might take a while.”  
  
“We’re all ears, Geoff,” Sonic shrugged.   
  
“Very well… my… former master’s power grab began the night of Mina Mongoose’s previous concert. We were present on a nearby rooftop, and when Miss Mongoose performed her rather on-the-nose song about Nicole-”  
  
“Something that she did apologise for, by the way,” Nicole cut in.  Isabella smiled knowingly, and the rest of the time sighed with relief, while Emerl’s tense form relaxed.  
  
“Yes, well. As I was saying, when the song was performed, Naugus used his magic to amplify the feelings of the crowd, and it seems his level of control over the citizens of the city seemed to increase until he was outright dominating the crowd outside the Council Building during yesterday’s battle.”  
  
“So, the general populace  _aren’t_  afraid of Nicole?” Sally asked.  
  
“I didn’t say that. Naugus’ magic amplified fear that was already there, it didn’t create anything new.”  
  
“Why would anyone be afraid of Nicole?” Emerl asked, voice raising. Nicole put her hand on her shoulder, smiling sadly.  
  
“It’s alright. When I made this city, I thought only of the good I could do with my power. I knew that very little was capable of breaking into my processor, due to the way my code is written. I didn’t expect magic to be my weakness, and in that respect, I was overconfident. While Sally has protected me against future invasions of that sort, I do think that some level of limitation does need to put on my control over Mobotropolis,” She said.  
  
“We’ll discuss that soon, as we continue to deal with the fallout.” Charles nodded. “As you were. St. John.”  
  
  
“Thank you,” Geoffrey nodded. “In any case, while Naugus was able to gain control of the city that way, his health began to deteriorate. Whatever that white energy wave that came from the Death Egg was, it destabilised him.”  
  
“Destabilised?” Penelope asked.  
  
“He wasn’t one person, he was three previous wizards fused into a single being. It seems that their minds were reawakened, and they started trying to separate themselves. This resulted in his mutations, his magic becoming more chaotic, and his sanity slipping,” The skunk continued.  
  
“He had sanity?” Sonic smirked.   
  
“Well, relatively speaking,” He sighed. “Regardless, he was never sure  _how_  he reverted Mrs. D'coolette to normal, but he wanted to recreate it so that he could use Princess Sally’s condition to maintain his security. Unfortunately, with his condition deteriorating, he began to try and find a body to hijack. He visited the former king, and Jules Hedgehog, but both of them refused his offer of healing, and he ultimately settled for me.”  
  
Sonic and Sally both narrowed their eyes, hands clenching, but Geoffrey continued all the same.  
  
“Ultimately, he was driven out by your ploy with the Sword of Light, and for that I thank you, in spite of the damage to my hand,” He finished.  
  
“I see… Well, this information will be useful.”  
  
  
“And the robot?” Rosemary asked, glancing at Emerl, who looked up as the room’s attention focused on her. “Tails, is it one of yours?”  
  
“Not exactly. Emerl here was something of a group project for the Brain Trust when that was a thing. We discontinued the project when Fiona warned us that a single robot like her once wiped out the empire of their creator, and while we tried to ensure that she’d be safe to activate, we couldn’t guarantee it, so we didn’t wake her up,” Tails explained. “Sally and Nicole had the activation codes hidden away, to be used in a situation where the worst-case scenario of bringing her online couldn’t make things a whole lot worse.”  
  
“I took a risk, but it was a calculated one,” Nicole spoke up. “If Emerl hadn’t been stable, I could’ve deactivated her. Fortunately, she was stable, and I can’t say I have any regrets about the decision I took. Without her, we might not be standing here right now.”  
  
“Yeah, she pulled us out of the fire when Eggman pulled a fast one on us,” Sonic shrugged.  
  
“She and Nicole saved my life,” Sally added. “Emerl brought Nicole to Holoska, and while Nicole shut down the self-destruct bomb and released my mind from Eggman’s command, Emerl quite literally saved my heart. Eggman took out more core and used it to power one of his mechs, and he tried to destroy that too. Emerl extracted it and removed the EMP generator that it was wired to…”  
  
Those who hadn’t been present when Sally’s modifications were discovered turned pale, the room’s temperature dropping.  
  
“W-well, I can certainly promise that, in light of these revelations, we will be reviewing our approach to the war with Eggman, perhaps working toward a more… active route,” Rosemary muttered. “But, while your defences of your new comrade are touching, they are appeals to emotion, not fact.”  
  
  
Emerl sighed, and stepped away from the wall she was leaning on, folding her arms.   
  
“Can I say something for myself?” She asked, striding to the front of the party.  
  
“Go ahead.”  
  
“Look, I understand why you don’t trust me. You’ve had some bad experiences with purpose-built bots. You’ve been fighting a guy who makes bots that look a lot like me since some of you were children, and others among you were forced to be his slaves. And the two groups aren’t mutually exclusive,” Emerl slumped slightly. “I want you to understand that I’m here to help. Your protectors are my friends. They can say all they like about me saving them, but I’m just following in their footsteps. I won some fights because I don’t get tired and I don’t feel as much pain. That’s all. But y’know what? I’m good at that. And I like doing it. And I like them. So I’m going to keep doing it. And frankly, you can’t stop me.”  
  
Emerl straightened, folding her arms as she took a few more steps forward.  
  
“I don’t need your approval to be their friend. I don’t need your approval to be their ally. Heck, I don’t even need to live here, I’m a robot, and I have three chunks Beryl fused with near-limitless power fuelling me, I can go anywhere I like and just swing by when I’m needed. But it would be much easier for all of us if I didn’t have to do that.”  
  
“Well… You’re certainly… passionate in your approach,” Isabella blinked, looking down at her.  
  
“Yes, perhaps if you want to convince us, you should show the appropriate respect-” Hamlin began, stopping short as Emerl appeared in front of him, hovering to meet the height of his chair as she stared down at him.  
  
“I’ll give you respect when you  _earn_  it,” She replied, before flashing back to ground level. “If anything, I’m being  _too_  respectful. So far, all I know about you is that you put Naugus in charge and exiled Nicole without actual justification. I’m not exactly familiar with your laws, but I’m going to hazard a guess that justice isn’t a popularity contest.”  
  
“Emerl…” Nicole ventured.  
  
“As forceful as Emerl is being… I can’t disagree with her,” Sally shrugged. “Regardless of her origin, Nicole is a person, and you have a duty of care to  _all_  of your citizens, not just those of flesh and blood.”  
  
“We’ll, uh… strive to improve that in future…” Rosemary slouched into her seat, as Sally offered a dry smile, and Emerl folded her arms.  
  
“Make sure that you do,” The princess replied.   
  
  
“Despite the outrage on her part, I can speak for Emerl’s integrity,” Charles said. “We would like to have your capabilities on record, though.”  
  
“Well, I can do… basically anything that I observe and understand,” Emerl tapped the closed optic in her forehead. “I can scan the abilities of others, and then adapt them for my own use. I have currently gained powers from Nicole, Sonic, Tails, Bunnie, and Mecha Sonic. I have additionally acquired weapons from Bunnie, Amy, Rotor, Mecha Sally, Mecha Sonic, and the former Eggman-goons we fought at the oil foundry, along with standard combat training from all parties. I’m always willing to add more powers, too.”  
  
“And the Chaos Emeralds? Reportedly you absorbed the one that Naugus held.”  
  
“Yeah, it seems to happen automatically when I touch them. When I do, I get flashes. I think they’re memories. Then the Emerald gets absorbed into me, and I get stronger. That’s all I know. Tails and Rotor are going to run some tests, and once that’s done, I’ll have more of an answer for you,” Emerl replied.   
  
“Can you… uh… spit them out?” Penelope asked.  
  
“Not that I know of,” Emerl shrugged. “Sorry.”  
  
“While they may be safer in your possession… we did want to use an Emerald to try and heal King Maximilian,” Dylan frowned.  
  
“Well, I can still do that. I used the one from the Death Egg to help fix Mecha Sally, and I’m sure I can learn a Chaos Heal from someone else so I can patch up organics too,” She responded.   
  
“Well… alright then,” Rosemary sighed. “Miles, can you get these tests done, and make a report. Then we’ll make a decision on where we stand with your new friend.”  
  
“Sure, we’ll get right on that,” Tails nodded.  
  
***  
  
The meeting didn’t last long after that. Geoffrey was escorted back to the hospital, remaining under guard. Sally remained with the Council to discuss the situation she had engineered in the desert, and most of the others went their separate ways.  
  
Tails, Rotor, and Emerl all went to the lab, where they began setting up the equipment for the Gizoid’s tests.   
  
“What is this, a lab or a gym?” Emerl asked, optics flickering over the various machines.  
  
“It’s both,” Tails replied, looking a little proud. “I wanted to create a facility here that we could use to determine how strong, tough, fast, etcetera, we all are, as well as tracking improvement. We’re going to test your speed, strength, and your inbuilt weapons. We’ll also hook you up to the computer and see if we can run a scan on your programming.”  
  
“Sounds good me, except that last part. I dunno why, but I feel like that’s a bad idea,” She replied. “But if you want to try it, sure.”  
  
“Alright then. We’ll start with strength…”  
  
  
The strength test didn’t last long. Emerl’s first punch tore the bag from its mounting, hurling it into the far wall, sand spilling out. Speed tests were similarly short-lived, and her chainblades were carving through everything short of the few scraps of armour they had left from the wreckage of the first Egg Beater.  
  
“She’s off the charts…” Tails sighed, watching as the Gizoid ambled out of the test chamber, heading up to join them. “I… it must be the Emeralds.”  
  
“The Emeralds? That’s your field of expertise, not mine.” Rotor frowned.  
  
“Normally we only use them when we have all seven, because they can be unstable without a control, but I’ve managed to determine that when he’s Super, Sonic receives a power multiplier of 700%,” The fox began. “One-hundred for every Emerald, in other words.”  
  
“So it could be that, with two Emeralds, Emerl is experiencing a boost of 200%?”  
  
“Precisely,” He nodded. “We’ll have to get this place set up for a Super-level subject…”  
  
  
Emerl walked into the room, stretching herself out, despite the lack of muscles to keep limber. It just felt right to her.  
  
“So, uh, did you get anything out of that? Because I feel like that didn’t go as planned,” She asked.  
  
“No, but we’re going to reset everything and get it set up for a higher level of combatant. We think the Emeralds are what’s pushing you over the current limits,” Tails replied. “Still, the fact that you’re stronger than we can measure is, in its own way, a measurement.”  
  
“I suppose,” She shrugged. “How long will it take to set up for a second attempt?”  
  
“Not sure. We’ve only measured aura before when it comes to Super modes. Getting something that can actually take a hit… Well, we'll work it out later. We can do the scan now, if you like?”  
  
“Sure, why not?” Emerl shrugged. “I already destroyed some of your equipment, what’s a computer on top of that?”  
  
“Oh, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like you’re going to melt it, right?” Rotor asked.  
  
“Well, okay then… Wait, I think Nicole’s coming, hang on,” She held up her hand, and sure enough, Nicole appeared in their midst, grinning ear-to-ear.  
  
“How did you know?” Rotor asked, raising an eyebrow at the Gizoid.  
  
“We’ve shared a head, I can kinda feel it,” She shrugged. “What’s up, Nicole?”  
  
  
“Sorry if I’m interrupting, but Antoine’s awake!” She beamed.  
  
Emerl didn’t know much about the coyote, other than what she had been told or was able to pick up from the conversations she’d been privy to, but the matching smiles on all three of her friends’ faces were all she needed to see. An impulse of thought, faster than any verbal conversation, invited the lynx into her head, and she gripped the two scientists’ shoulders, warping all four of them away. Nicole guided her to the correct room, and she landed outside it, releasing her friends. Tails pushed the door open, and they all stepped in together.  
  
Bunnie and Amy sat to one side of the bed, the former clutching Antoine’s hand tightly as she hugged him as carefully as she could manage. Sonic and Sally were at the other, Sally gently holding the coyote’s other hand. They looked up as the newcomers arrived, and clustered together around the bed.  
  
Finally, they were reunited.  
  
***  
  
A world away from the turmoil of Mobius, cold blue eyes snapped open, a spark of purple rippling through them. A change in the air, a familiar aura, a presence he had hoped lost, but deep down, he always knew would return.  
  
Miles Prower rose to his feet, running a hand through his black hair. He stood at the centre of a peculiar pattern, three runes arranged in a triangle, connected and contained within concentric circles, more runes filling the space between them. The eldritch sigil had been seared into a ledge of rock, jutting from the side of a black mountain that rose from a frenzied ocean, grey waves slamming against the stone, and Miles had been sitting at its centre for the past three and a half days.  
  
He looked down at his hands, and found the same sigil now branded into the backs of them. Clenching his fist for a moment, violet light ignited within the the fine lines of the markings, both those in his skin, and in the stone at his feet. He grinned, and turned away from the precipice, picking up his coat from the rock where he had hung it half a week prior, wrapping it around his shoulders. Descending the rough-hewn steps into the bowels of the mountain once more, he called out to his sole companion.  
  
“Myrddin, where are you?” It was less a question than a demand, and his brow furrowed at the lack of response. The old wizard was becoming increasingly difficult to rely on lately, Miles had noticed. Still, he’d got what he needed from him, so that wasn’t really an issue any longer. If anything, it was most fortuitous that his journey had reached its end just as his perennial adversary returned from his exile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this arc. Arc 3 will be posted tomorrow.


End file.
